This is Nicole Briel's page for the journal part of our Civil Disobedience project. I'm taking the place of Rosa Parks.
Dear Journal, Part 1: December 1, 1955, was the day I refused to move from my seat on that bus in Montgomery, Alabama. And I can remember every detail of that fateful day. I was sitting in the first row of the black section, and we had just stopped at the next bus stop. Several white people got on, but the white section was full so the bus driver told three other black people and I to move out of that row for them. Those other three people moved but I just slid over in my seat. I just didn't want to get up and move out of my seat just because I was black and those new passengers was white. I didn't seem right to me. But until the bus driver yelled at us to move from the seats he selected, I hadn't recognized the he was the same man who I had a confrontation with 12 years ago. It just had to be the same racist man who had left me to walk home in the rain after I accidentally entered in the wrong door of the bus. Just my luck... But I still refused to move from my seat.
Part 2: I hadn't planned to protest this unjust law of segregation on the buses, but it was the right thing to do. The Jim Crow Laws and a Montgomery city ordinance were discriminating against blacks and I decided I would not give up my seat or my rights. The bus driver called the police and they took me to the police station to get my finger prints taken. Thankfully, Edgar D. Nixon, who was the president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), bailed me out of jail in the evening on December 2. If not for him I would have had to spend more time sitting in jail, without my family aware of the whole situation. I really couldn't have gone far in this fight for civil rights without their support.
Part 3: I was charged with violating the Chapter 6, Section 11 segregation law of the Montgomery City code and violating a city ordinance, even though I was sitting in the "colored" section of the bus, that is until the bus driver told us to move from the seats. I was found guilty and fined a total of 14 dollars. The ten dollars was a fine and four were for court costs. Once again I was backed by the NAACP and my family we pursued the case and brought it to the Supreme Court. They ruled that segregation on buses is unconstitutional. I'm glad the NAACP was able to use my case to try to overthrow these segregation laws, not only in Montgomery, but all over the United States. It is really great that we were able to fight and have this racist law removed.
Part 4: If not for the support of the NAACP and all the people who joined in the Montgomery Bus Boycott we wouldn't have achieved such a great victory in our war against discrimination. I shouldn't be the only one recognized because they were essential for our success in this matter. Even after this one victory, people still believe weare not equal and I have had my own confrontations with people who are angry about the court's ruling, but we have started the ball rolling and hopefully this achievement will lead to others. Though I never planned to protest that one day on the bus I am so happy that I did and that racial segregation is not legal anymore. I'm glad I had a part to play, even if it involved spending a little time in jail. That was a small price to pay because this is one more step towards a desegregated future.
Rosa Parks
This is Nicole Briel's page for the journal part of our Civil Disobedience project. I'm taking the place of Rosa Parks.Dear Journal,
Part 1:
December 1, 1955, was the day I refused to move from my seat on that bus in Montgomery, Alabama. And I can remember every detail of that fateful day. I was sitting in the first row of the black section, and we had just stopped at the next bus stop. Several white people got on, but the white section was full so the bus driver told three other black people and I to move out of that row for them. Those other three people moved but I just slid over in my seat. I just didn't want to get up and move out of my seat just because I was black and those new passengers was white. I didn't seem right to me. But until the bus driver yelled at us to move from the seats he selected, I hadn't recognized the he was the same man who I had a confrontation with 12 years ago. It just had to be the same racist man who had left me to walk home in the rain after I accidentally entered in the wrong door of the bus. Just my luck... But I still refused to move from my seat.
Part 2:
I hadn't planned to protest this unjust law of segregation on the buses, but it was the right thing to do. The Jim Crow Laws and a Montgomery city ordinance were discriminating against blacks and I decided I would not give up my seat or my rights. The bus driver called the police and they took me to the police station to get my finger prints taken. Thankfully, Edgar D. Nixon, who was the president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), bailed me out of jail in the evening on December 2. If not for him I would have had to spend more time sitting in jail, without my family aware of the whole situation. I really couldn't have gone far in this fight for civil rights without their support.
Part 3:
I was charged with violating the Chapter 6, Section 11 segregation law of the Montgomery City code and violating a city ordinance, even though I was sitting in the "colored" section of the bus, that is until the bus driver told us to move from the seats. I was found guilty and fined a total of 14 dollars. The ten dollars was a fine and four were for court costs. Once again I was backed by the NAACP and my family we pursued the case and brought it to the Supreme Court. They ruled that segregation on buses is unconstitutional. I'm glad the NAACP was able to use my case to try to overthrow these segregation laws, not only in Montgomery, but all over the United States. It is really great that we were able to fight and have this racist law removed.
Part 4:
If not for the support of the NAACP and all the people who joined in the Montgomery Bus Boycott we wouldn't have achieved such a great victory in our war against discrimination. I shouldn't be the only one recognized because they were essential for our success in this matter. Even after this one victory, people still believe weare not equal and I have had my own confrontations with people who are angry about the court's ruling, but we have started the ball rolling and hopefully this achievement will lead to others. Though I never planned to protest that one day on the bus I am so happy that I did and that racial segregation is not legal anymore. I'm glad I had a part to play, even if it involved spending a little time in jail. That was a small price to pay because this is one more step towards a desegregated future.
~Rosa Parks